Archive for August, 2012

The Australian Grains Industry Market Access Forum (GIMAF) recently hosted a reception in Beijing for members of both the Australian and the Chinese oilseed industry in order for them to demonstrate their strong support for the resumption of canola trade from Australia to China. Representatives from both the Australian and Chinese governments and their agencies were also present at the event.

The reception, formally opened by the Deputy Head of Mission from the Australian Embassy, Mr Graeme Meehan, came at the conclusion of very constructive meetings between Australian and Chinese Quarantine officials regarding the resumption of Australian canola exports to China. Discussions between the government officials have helped identify some of the gaps in the knowledge that need to be addressed in order to enable the resumption of canola trade.

The officials agreed that Chinese technical experts will visit Australia in order to better understand the operational and quality assurance protocols in place for canola exports to China. The visit, targeted to occur before the 2012 harvest, is viewed as being a critical step in building a greater knowledge base for both parties to facilitate trade in canola.

It is the intention of the parties that once an agreed research approach is developed, canola trade would resume to specific ports nominated by China. It is anticipated that trade could resume in time to capitalise on new crop stocks from the 2012 canola harvest.

Speaking at the reception, Nick Goddard, Executive Director of the Australian Oilseeds Federation, welcomed the positive progress made during the technical meetings, highlighting the benefit to the Chinese oilseed industry that would come from providing an additional choice for imported canola. He also reiterated the very strong and long term trading relationship that existed for grain products between the two countries, and the trusted commercial relationships that are in place between exporters and their Chinese customers.

The delegation would like to thank those representatives from Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from Australia, and from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Beijing who were instrumental in achieving these positive outcomes.